Metro Bowl

1993

Date: November 19th

Venue: SkyDome, Toronto

St. Patrick’s Fighting Irish (Sarnia) defeated St. Michael’s College Kerry Blues

Quarter-finals
St. Michaels 8, Central Tech 0
Pickering 42, Markham 13

Semi-finals
St. Patricks 29, West Hill 12
St. Michaels 14, Pickering 7

Championship
 

St. Patrick’s Fighting Irish (Sarnia) 20, St. Michael’s College Kerry Blues 6

The Toronto Star published the following report by David Grossman on November 20th:

St. Patrick's quarterback Terry Kleinsmith had good reason to be pumped up.

Not only were there 33 busloads of fans from Sarnia cheering enthusiastically, but the team had received a telegram from none other than Lou Holtz, coach of the other famous Fighting Irish team, Notre Dame.

The message of support from the coach of the No. 1 team in the NCAA urged the Irish to stay focused in their Metro Bowl high school football championship last night.

And that, they did.

St. Pat's 20, St. Mike's 6

St. Pat's became the first high school outside of Metro to win the coveted William G. Davis trophy with an impressive 20-6 win over Toronto's previously unbeaten St. Michael's Kerry Blues before an announced crowd of 4,264 at SkyDome - one of the largest crowds to witness a high school game in Ontario.

For Kleinsmith, it's normal to be in a state of perpetual excitement but this victory was something special for the player chosen as winner of The Star's Game MVP award.

"This is amazing . . . the biggest win in our school history and the biggest thrill in my high school career," said the 17-year-old who also played linebacker. "Everything gelled in the second half and then the greatest drive I've ever been associated with . . . we marched right up their gut."

Kleinsmith, who completed four of six passes in the game for 93 yards and all to receiver Jim Dunn, used up almost eight minutes of the final quarter with a 98-yard drive on 15 plays.

"He's trickiest guy I've ever seen," said Rocco Piccinino, St. Mike's star running back after seeing Kleinsmith make a couple of shovel passes for big gains and enjoy much success on counter plays.

"We were ready for him but he mesmerized the defence. The motions, he had them down pat and confused us."

St. Michael's scored first on a 17-yard field goal from the foot of Denis Infanti but, other than another 14-yarder with six seconds until halftime, the Fighting Irish defence would not budge.

St. Patrick's, unaccustomed to playing catchup, got the wake-up call early after falling behind 3-0.